Mayor Gavin Newsom speaks during a press conference commemorating the one year anniversary of the Community Justice Center at the CJC in San Francisco, Calif. on Tuesday March 30, 2010.

Photo: Lea Suzuki, The Chronicle

Mayor Gavin Newsom speaks during a press conference commemorating...

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Suede nightclub at 383 Bay Street where the shooting occurred. A shooting early Sunday February 7, 2010 near the Suede nightclub on Bay Street in San Francisco, Calif. left one person dead and four wounded.

Seven years, in Mayor Gavin Newsom's estimation, is enough time to see something isn't working.

Just hours before San Francisco's oft-maligned Entertainment Commission voted Wednesday to close for 30 days a Fisherman's Wharf nightclub where one person was killed and four wounded in a February shootout, the mayor said the commission should be disbanded.

"I think we can simply do without the Entertainment Commission. I don't see it adding real value," said Newsom, who appoints four of the seven commissioners. "I don't, at the end of the day, feel it's lived up to its purpose."

The mayor is advocating for regulatory power to be returned to the police. His voice is perhaps the most forceful to join the rising chorus of criticism leveled at the commission from residents, police officials and others since the panel's first members were seated in 2003.

Some complain the commission is stacked in favor of the entertainment industry. At one point in 2009, those with direct financial ties to the industry held five of the seven seats, but that is no longer the case. Individual commissioners, including founding member Terrance Alan, have come under scrutiny for voting on projects they're linked to or with which they have perceived conflicts of interest. Citing health reasons, Alan said this week he will not seek reappointment when his term expires June 30.

Dual role at issue

Many say the commission's dual role of promoting the entertainment industry and regulating it is problematic. The commission has been routinely blamed for failing to rein in what even critics agree is a small percentage of problematic nightlife operations that lead to violence.

Board of Supervisors President David Chiu called Wednesday's hearing on suspending the operating permit for the nightclub Suede a "test" for the commission after the board in November granted the panel increased power to close clubs immediately for 72 hours and issue citations.

So far, the results have been troubling, including the fatal Feb. 7 shooting outside Suede, Chiu said.

"This is something that could have been avoided if this commission had acted," Chiu told the commissioners Wednesday, listing 10 instances where he said the commission had heard about problems related to Suede. "You heard complaints about violence, and this commission did nothing."

Commissioners argue that city law strictly regulates when they can revoke a venue's permit. They couldn't do that with Suede on Wednesday, despite police reports showing at least five instances when officers intervened for overcrowding, fights or alcohol violations over the last 1 1/2 years. The most the commission can levy is a 30-day suspension, a city attorney said.

Reasons to revoke

Under city law, there are only three circumstances in which the commission can revoke a permit: the owner lied on a permit application, failed to pay required fees or didn't surrender the permit after selling the business.

The commission voted unanimously for a 30-day suspension, which goes into effect April 5. The club said it won't appeal.

The club has remained closed voluntarily since a 72-hour emergency suspension after the February shooting.

An attorney for Suede said the club is being scapegoated for a problem that started at the nearby Sheraton Hotel.

"What Club Suede did was provide a target," attorney Arthur Lipton said. He called Newsom's comments part of a "public frenzy."

The mayor on Wednesday joined Chiu, nearby businesses and more than 1,000 residents who have called for Suede to be shut down.

"The commission needs to move forward deliberately and shut it down," Newsom said. "In the old days (before the Entertainment Commission was created), we could have simply done that."

Alan suggested the criticism of the commission was misguided because the panel didn't have the power to revoke Suede's permit because it did not violate one of the three conditions. Police also never issued any citations to the club despite one officer testifying it was "at the very top" of problem clubs in the North Beach area.

Alan said he hoped for "a legislative remedy to replace what seems to be an egregious problem in the code."

Police Cmdr. Jim Dudley said citations carry weak penalties and often are dismissed, and the commission has had ample opportunities to suspend Suede's operating permit.

Restoring police power

The mayor wants to return the authority to issue entertainment permits and late-night operating permits to the Police Department, something the department handled before the Board of Supervisors passed legislation in 2002, authored by then-Supervisor Mark Leno, to create a civilian panel.

The legislation grew out of unrest over crackdowns on unpermitted parties and criticism that the department was overly strict in granting permits because it had a vested interest in limiting clubs so its officers had fewer complaints to respond to.

Jim Meko, who has served on the Entertainment Commission since its inception, said that returning power to the police would be a mistake because decisions would be made behind closed doors.

"We've seen how the police handled it. They were less successful" than the commission, Meko said. "They had everybody mad at them. They kept getting dragged into court, and they kept losing and costing the city money."

Voter approval needed

Abolishing the commission would need voter approval. Newsom said he can't unilaterally put an initiative on the ballot because it is a chartered commission, and he doesn't think it's worth the cost to collect 47,000 signatures.

Newsom met with Chiu on Wednesday and said they are reaching out to Leno, now a state senator, with the message, "Help us fix it."

Chiu said he was open to the idea of abolishing the commission, but he pointed to other options, including stripping it of permitting power and creating a separate body with representatives from the police, fire and planning departments to handle that.

That would be a way to "really remove politics from the decision," Chiu said.